Harry Potter and the Wizard of the White council
by fasda.vt
Summary: In the summer before Harry's 5th year at Hogworts, desperate to find a teacher, Dumbledore enters into a pact with the Queen of Air and Darkness herself. Guess which, wizard from Chicago, she entraps to do the job. Harry will learn harsh truths and secrets from the mysterious man from the white council and face a terrible choice about how to deal with dark magic.
1. Chapter 1

This is my first story, it takes place in the Dresden Files, between Turn Coat and Changes, and during The Order of the Phoenix for the harry potter characters. Starts during the trail. Hope it isn't too bad.

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this story, if I did this wouldn't be fan fiction.

**Chapter 1 **

"Then," said Dumbledore, quietly but clearly, "we must ask our-selves why somebody within the Ministry ordered a pair of dementors into that alleyway on the second of August."

In the complete silence that greeted these words, the to the right of Fudge leaned forward so that Harry saw her for the first time.

He thought she looked just like a large, pale toad. She was rather squat with a broad, flabby face, as little neck as Uncle Vernon, and a very wide, slack mouth. Her eyes were large, round and slightly bulging. Even the little black velvet bow perched on the top of her short curly hair put him in the mind of a large fly she was about to catch on a long sticky tongue.

As Fudge was drawing in breath to speak, the doors to the dungeon slammed open and shocked him into silence. Behind Harry, he heard the click of heels and something deeper like a large walking stick against the stone floor.

Harry twisted around and saw two people. One was a woman who was tall, had long hair the color of snow, and wore an expensive gray Muggle suit. Even though the court room was only dimly lit by torches, she wore large sunglasses she seem unperturbed and strode on confidently. What parts of her face Harry could see bore a cold but neutral expression. But, while Harry noticed these things they were secondary to one immutable fact, that she was the most beautiful woman Harry had every seen. She was more beautiful then even the Veela Harry had seen at the Quidditch World Cup. Her beauty though, was quite different from the Veela, which had filled him with the desire to act rather stupidly. Her beauty made Harry's life feel hollow and that the only way to fill it was to keep, looking at her.

A thought struck Harry, isn't this how the Mirror of Erised had made him feel? Harry had found the mirror while exploring Hogworts during his first year, it was enchanted to show who ever looked in it their deepest desire. When Dumbledore, had caught Harry looking at the mirror he explained that it was quite dangerous and that many had wasted away in front of it. This, gave Harry enough strength to tare his vision from the woman and to the person beside her.

If, the woman looked like someone the Durselys would not even consider criticizing, the man beside her, looked like someone they would conspicuously run across the street to get away from. He was even taller then the woman and if it wasn't for Hagrid, the man would be the tallest person, Harry had ever seen. The man carried himself with such confidence, it was as if he had looked at everyone and decided he could take them all in a fight. In each hand he had large wooden sticks engraved with runes, one a thick staff that made the deep boom as it hit the ground and the other a club that dangled on a string. While these added to his menace it was his face and his coat are what made intimidating. He had two large red angry scars on his face, one through his eyebrow and one through his lip on the right side of his face, his coat was a black leather trench coat with the collar turned up. Harry considered him for another moment, and thought he might have been the baddie from a western he saw watching television at Mrs. Figg's one summer. Although if he was, he much much more intimidating then on telly.

They walked silently, except for the click of heel and the boom of staff until, they were a few feet from Dumbledore who had risen from the chintz chair and bowed to them as they approached. Then a voice spoke. Neither of the two people who entered lips ever moved, and Harry was quite confident that no such voice could have come from a person. It was as if someone had went out and created a voice that was meant to make your hairs stand on end. Harry looked down and then saw a mouth and smile floating in the air like a malevolent, Cheshire Cat. Loudly but in that horrible raspy voice it said, "Dumbledore, I, have found the new teacher of defense against the dark arts, you requested".

"Who, exactly, do you think you are, barging in during a trail", Fudge snarled his face somehow an even deeper shade of puce.

"This, is Mab" Dumbledore said as if he was giving a lesson to a group of particularly slow first years, "Queen of Air and Darkness, Queen of Winter and Queen who is of the Unseelie Court of Fairy"

The colour of Fudge's face drained so quickly Harry doubted it could have been done with magic. There were gasps coming from several members of the Wizengamot and if Dumbledore had not been so serene Harry would have thought he was sitting near a bomb. The silence, that followed was dispelled quickly by a rather girlish titter.

"Why is everyone so afraid?", said the toad woman in an amused voice, "it is just a fairy"

The tall man next to Mab cringed at the toad woman's words and took a half step away from Mab.

"The sidhe do not appreciate being called fairies," said the inhuman voice of the cat "and poor manners for a host besmirch their guests".

"It is not for a fairy to tell a witch was is or is not rude," said the toad in a sickly sweet voice, "begone and play in a meadow until you are summoned"

Mab who had not been looking at anything in particular turned her head to face the toad woman. The rest of the cat appeared, and any ideas that it was like the Cheshire Cat vanished from Harry's mind. Where the Cheshire Cat was silly, this cat was absolutely vicious. It was gray and must have weighed nearly 4 stone, all rippling lean muscle without an ounce of fat. Its tail stood straight up and was at least twice as long as the rest of its body. "The Queen of Winter does not play in meadows nor can be dismissed like a servant" the cat spoke, this time anger in its voice made it even more unpleasant then before. The cat dragged its front left paw over the stone and its claws dug deep furrows into the floor as if it was made of something much softer then stone.

The tall man next to the Queen then said, in a very American accent, "Hells bells lady, this is one of the freaking Queens of Fairy, apologize before the rest of us are covered in your entrails!" his voice dripping with warning and horror that someone would act that way to Mab.

Mab turned to the tall man and put her hands on her hips an annoyed expression on her face and the cat spoke again, "Do you think I, would do that here, and now, Dresden, that I am so gauche?", in a way that reminded Harry of when Aunt Petunia saw someone wear white after summer. It also disturbingly implied to Harry that Mab could and would rip out people's entrails. Dresden looked ahead, not daring to meet her gaze.

"I am Delores Umbridge, Under Secretary to the Minster of Magic, and we are in the middle of an important trial, I ask you again please take your fairy and play queen outside until we are done" said the toady woman in a slightly less sweet voice.

Harry knew that was the wrong thing to say and that there would be consequences for those words. when he turned backed and faced Mab again she had an icy smile that somehow looked monstrous. She then took out a handkerchief from a suit pocket and then put her sunglasses into the pocket. While she did again the cat spoke for her, "Mayhap, you could lend me your ear and I could explain something to you?" in a voice that was probably the closest the cat could get to being sweet.

The man called Dresden made a motion and then he and Dumbledore went closer to Harry. Dresden stood between Harry and Mab and Dumbledore between Harry and Umbridge as if something bad was about to happen and they were going to shield from it.

"If you must", said Umbridge in a condescending manner as if she was indulging a child.

When Mab had finished taking off her sunglasses and Harry saw her eyes for the first time, he realized that there was absolutely no way that she was human. They were a pale blue and instead of the round eye of a human they were the vertical slit of a cat. While that was a bit of a give away that she was not human, if that was all Harry would have been taken aback but, her eyes made Harry afraid of her. They were flat and colder then any he had seen or even imagined. Even Voldemort had more compassion and sympathy in his eyes when he was trying to murder Harry after the Triwizard tournament. The only thing that kept Harry in the chair instead of bolting to the door was the fear the moving might draw her attention.

While it seemed longer, she only stood there for a breath and then there was an arctic gale that left frost everywhere and she was gone. Harry spun around in the chair, trying to find Mab again and saw that she was towering over Umbridge, not even a single hair was out of place despite the wind or from somehow traveling between the two spots. She then seized the back of Umbridge's head and slammed with tremendous force into the stone in front of her. There was a loud crack of something breaking which, if Umbridge was lucky, was only her nose. Then, Queen Mab spoke and Harry, found out why the cat had done all the talking before now.

"I am Mab, you insolent, toad faced, mortal ape. I have Power and Purpose beyond your comprehension. Your life from cradle to grave is nothing more the passing of a season to me. I have lived for thousands of years and will live for thousands more. Insult me or the sidhe again and I will destroy you. Now Madame Undersecretary, I will borrow your ear" Queen Mab spat in a voice that is hard to describe.

The primary quality of her voice was not an emotion, or a pitch, or tone. The primary quality the voice had, was pain. It was not painfully loud, like an explosion. It was not that she conveyed pain she felt but, as if with every word she spoke, ice picks were being hammered into Harry's ears. It was the worst pain Harry had ever suffered. The cruciatus curse by comparison, was now only moderately painful. What else was happening in the room Harry could not say, the pain was so overwhelming that nothing else could get through to his mind except her words. It should have taken a few second but felt like and eternity.

When Harry regained control he found himself still in the chair, draped over one of the arms and soaked in a cold sweat and a frost which coated everything in the room. Blood dripped from Harry's ears and wondered if Mab's words had been literally carved into his ear drums. Dumbledore was getting on his hands and knees and Dresden was already kneeling. Harry saw Mab back where she was standing before, folding her handkerchief around something bloody and then swap it for her sunglasses. She then started to languidly and with a great amount of satisfaction, lick her fingers on her left hand which were covered in blood. Harry looked up at Umbridge, her face was an absolute mess, covered in blood and gore. Harry couldn't be sure but, thought she might be missing her right ear as well. Umbridge let out a whimper of pain but, it seemed that no one was going to help until Mab had finished with her business. Harry decide then that he shouldn't even think of Queen Mab with anything less the absolute politeness.

After Queen Mab had finished licking her fingers clean, "Now, unless anyone else has objections, I will continue" said the cat in a rather smug voice.

In a shaky voice that Harry thought was very understandable, "N-n-not an objection you understand b-but a question," said Fudge, "Why di-did your Majesty find a teacher for our humble school?"

"Professor Dumbledore and I entered into a bargain to for me find one, it appears he could not find a willing applicant to teach Defense against the Dark Arts", said the cat for the Queen, "to complete my end of the bargain, I have brought one Harry Dresden".

"I wouldn't say willing", muttered Dresden under his breath.

Queen Mab turned her head slightly toward Dresden and razed and eyebrow.

"What makes him a qualified candidate, not to say that you found an unqualified candidate but, to know how he is qualified", said Fudge, who seemed to have gathered his wits.

Queen Mab put a hand to her chest and looked shocked "Why, have you not heard of the famous Harry Dresden?", said the cat "his exploits, are known throughout the world. He started the war against the Red Court, slew the Summer lady, defeated three Heirs of the Necromancer Kemmler and their apprentices, attacked Arctis Tor which has made him one of the most famous Wardens the White Council has ever had".

Harry wasn't sure what was supposed to be the most impressive part of that was. Harry did however, see that what she said made everyone else in the room go perfectly rigid, only Dumbledore seemed unfazed.

"Ah, what an excellent choice your Majesty", Dumbledore exclaimed, "No one could argue that he isn't an expert on how to fight the dark arts" he continued brightly, then in a more solemn voice he said "I, acknowledge that you have completed your end of the bargain and await to fulfill my own"

"I will call on you when, it is time" said the cat for the Queen followed by "Warden Dresden, you will depart with Dumbledore" and with that the cat jumped into the crook of Queen Mab's arm and despite the size of the beast, she seemed treat it as if it were a kitten.

In the silence that ensued Dresden spoke up, "So... shouldn't someone be getting that poor woman some help?"

This snapped Fudge into focus "Oh yes! Yes! Weasly, please take Dolores to St. Mungo's, someone else will finish taking notes" and Percy got up and gingerly helped Umbridge to her feet and out of the hall. When they had departed Fudge shuffled the papers in front of him.

"Where were we?" said Fudge, slightly nervously, all though with Mab gone Harry didn't see why Fudge would still be worried.

"Discussing, whether or not there were dementors present that night in the alley Minster" prompted Dumbledore.

Dresden burst out "WOAH, did this kid summon up dementors!?"

"NO, I defended myself from two dementors they came out of no where", Harry replied hotly

"How did you survive? Dementors aren't big on leaving food on the table" Dresden said skeptically.

"My portronus, defended me and my cousin" said Harry more frustrated then he had been, the first time he explained it.

"Really? does it have a shape at all or is more of a mist?" Dresden intoned in a somewhat impressed voice.

Harry calmed down, it was nice to have someone openly believe him, "It is a stag and it isn't blurry at all"

Dresden whistled and said, "Hey want a job? You'll have to take a test but if you can do that I'm sure you could make it."

Confused and a bit incredulous, Harry asked, "What? But I haven't even finished school yet or even taken my O.W.L.s yet"

"I don't know what O.W.L.s are" Dresden responded "but we only accept our own tests anyway so it won't make what you took and as for finishing school we'd run you through boot camp and teach you everything that you need to know."

Harry didn't know what on Earth, Dresden was talking about and this job offer, managing a prison or something, on top of the trial and hearing Queen Mab was making Harry's head spin. It must have shown because Dresden quickly said, "Hey this isn't a high pressure sales tactic here, just keep it in mind and if you want find me or any other Warden to get you started. If you do go to another Warden don't mention that I refereed you, its a long story don't ask." Dresden then continued, "Sorry for throwing off the trial. If the kid didn't summon the dementors, what's with the star chamber?"

"Mr. Potter supposedly, defended himself from dementors and cast portronus in full view of Muggles", primly said Fudge.

"Muggle?" queried Dresden.

"A person without magic" explained Dumbledore

"Seems a bit excessive for a minor violation of the Masquerade" Dresden stated somewhat skeptically

Fudge replied, "I thought a Warden of White Council would be all for overwhelming punishment" which caused Dresden to wince for some reason.

"If you have all the evidence find him guilty or not, personally I hope you find him guilty that way I can take him, test him, and enroll him into the Wardens by lunch" Dresden said in a nonchalant and bored tone. This made Fudge turn pale again and he quickly ordered, "All those in favor of clearing the witness of all charges?" and, then in a move which absolutely shocked Harry, every single member of the Winzengamot, even Fudge, raised their hands. Fudge looked downtrodden and said in a defeated voice, "Very well cleared of all charges."

"Excellent," said Dumbledore briskly, turn around quickly towards the door. "Well I must be going, if you would accompany me Mr. Dresden we have much to discuss"

Dumbledore left the word without saying anything to Harry.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry about the wait. I'm still not satisfied but well it isn't getting better so I published it. Also if you feel like leaving a review I'm thinking about bringing Mab back later during Umbridge's inspection of classes either Hagrid or Trelawny. **

**Chapter 2**

When Harry left the dungeon, he found a pale faced and extremely worried looking Mr Weasley who asked, "What on Earth happened in there?".

Harry chose to give the good news first and said, "Well, I got off the charges unanimous vote if you believe it,"

Mr. Weasley looked and said, "How on Earth did Dumbledore do that?"

Harry considered what happened and replied, "The tall man that came in, he's called Dresden, bullied them into it not sure how he did it though," after a beat he continued, "he's from some prison in America, going to be the new Defense against the Dark Arts professor. "

"Two pieces of good news and it isn't even lunch," said Mr Weasley, a genial smile which didn't quite remove the concern in his eyes, "but, what about the woman who was attacked."

Thinking what had happened made Harry's ears ache. He needed a few calming breaths before talking about it, "Queen Mab, the tall woman that was with Dresden, did that to her for being insulting."

Harry was going to ask Mr Weasley what a shee is and how they are related to fairies, when the doors to the court opened. Fudge, who had worked himself back into a fury, nearly ran to Mr. Weasley and spat in a venomous tone, "You better hope that Dumbledore's game doesn't blow up in our faces Weasley," then in a more icy tone, "If it does I'll make sure the Wardens know about the things you've done to all those muggles" then Fudge left moving as fast as person could without running to the elevator.

At Fudge's words Mr Weasley turned as pale as his freckles would allow. Other members of the Wizengamot a streamed passed them while Fudge had been talking, no Harry corrected himself threatening Mr Weasley. Now some members said quick greetings to Mr. Weasley others said nothing. All looked pensive. When the hallway was clear again Mr. Weasley, his face white as a sheet, turned to Harry, "You said the man was from a prison".

"He is," Harry responded, a bit hotter then probably should have "Queen Mab said he was the warden of some place called the White Council". Harry was starting to feel nervous, as if he was absorbing some of the fear radiating from Mr. Weasley. Thinking about it White Council would be a strange name to call a prison and the nervous feeling grew. "If he isn't, then what is the White Council?" Harry asked.

"There's no time to explain, let's get you back safe and I'll explain the situation to everyone. Then I'll come back to the Ministry and find out what the official response will be" said Mr. Weasley as if he was telling himself as much as he was telling Harry what the plan would be.

"What about the jinxed toilet?" asked Harry.

"I'll get to it eventually, might have to let the dawn erode it away", Mr Weasely replied dismissively.

When they came to the entrance hall Harry saw Fudge speaking to a tall blond man Harry recognized. It was Lucius Malfoy and he was one of Voldemort's Death Eaters perhaps even Voldemort's top lieutenant. Fudge must have been informing Malfoy of the events of the trial because Malfoy looked positively green. If, the trail had not been overshadowed by other events, Harry and Malfoy would have traded barbs but, because of the rush to get out they didn't even trade glares. When they got close to the exit someone from a small knot of people that seemed to know Mr. Weasley and called out to him but Mr Weasley cut him off, "No, I'm going get the whole story from Harry and explain some things to my wife and children first. When I get back if they're still treating the rest of us like mushrooms, I'll tell everyone what I know but not until then".

After leaving the public toilet Harry asked, "treating you like mushrooms?"

Mr. Weasley looked a bit embarrassed and said sheepishly, "Ah, well um kept in the dark and uh well never mind the rest"

After informing everyone that Harry had been acquitted everyone was overjoyed, Ron and Hermione both gave assurances that they knew he would gotten off all a long and the twins Fred and George along with Ginny started dancing and chanting, "He got off, he got off". The chant however was stopped almost as soon as it began by Mr. Weasley, "Would you shut up and get Sirius something else happened during the trial and he needs to know now" so forcefully that it sent all the Weasleys, even Mrs. Weasley, into shocked wide eyed silence. While it was a common thing for Mrs. Weasley to shout the number of times Mr. Weasley had done so could have been counted on one hand. Ginny quickly turned and ran out to get Harry's godfather.

When Sirius entered he quickly demanded, "Whats happened Arthur, whats wrong"

"Harry should explain, he actually saw it" replied Mr Weasley.

So Harry started at the beginning of the trial. When Harry got to the part when Dumbledore introduced Queen Mab, Kreatcher, who had be lurking by the door, fell over. "Young Master mustn't say her name, she could hear you! She could take it as an invitation!" Kreatcher shrieked. The thought of Queen Mab suddenly appearing behind him starring down with her cold empty eyes made Harry visibly shudder. Kreatcher continued, "If you must speak of her speak of her tittles". Everyone around the table seemed shocked and unnerved that the foul tempered elf had been helpful.

"Why are you so afraid Kreatcher?" Hermione asked in a kindly voice

Before Kreatcher could say something nasty Harry cut in, "Because she's evil".

This put Harry on the receiving end of skeptical expressions that made his face go red.

"You didn't see her, she has eyes like a cat, vertical instead of round and about as much compassion as a shark" Harry said with anger in voice. "This Umbridge woman insulted the Winter Queen, calling her a fairy, which she really hated, so she ripped off Umbridge's ear." said Harry his voice moving from anger to something more defiant. This, got the response Harry was looking for and, so he drove the point saying, "When she was done, she licked the blood of her hand like it was frosting from a cake".

"Tell them about the man's job" said Mr Weasley gravely.

This confused Harry, why was everyone at the ministry was focused on the man, after all how many times does someone like Queen Mab walk into the ministry nearly kill someone and walked out as they pleased. "Oh he's going to be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Queen Ma..," but Harry caught himself and said, "the Winter Queen, found him for Dumbledore".

"The other one Harry" said Mr Weasley a hint of exasperation in his voice.

"Um, the Queen told everyone about some stuff he'd done, like start a war with vampires, fought some heirs to this necromancer guy, Kessler or something and he is a famous warden of some white council place."

"They don't exist" said Fred quickly.

"Yeah, just stories parents tell kids to make them behave" said George

"Don't sneak out at night or the Wardens will get you" Fred chided in a good impersonation of Mrs. Weasley.

"Don't take someone else's wand or the Wardens will get you" George chided in the same way.

Mr Weasley looked grave and said, "They are very real boys and, well I'll give you a run down since accurate information isn't really known outside of the various magical law enforcements". After a deep breath Mr. Weasley continued, "Ages ago the Merlin created a group to fight and prevent the dark arts. This group would be populated by the strongest witches and wizards of the entire world. They created seven laws and decreed that all the world would have to follow them" Mr Weasley paused to think what to say next and after a few beats said, "But there was a problem with our people, the wand people they call us, wanted to keep to themselves and not have the council interfering. So the Council faced a dilemma they could let us be an exception or they could force us to follow them but, both solutions would destroy the council. Give us an exception and the Council looks weak, if they tried by the strength of arms internal division would spring up since a goodly number of the original council had family and friends among our people. Either way the Council would be strangled in its crib." Mr Weasley took a sip of water from a glass, that had been brought to him while he spoke. "A compromise was reached where our people would enforce the laws of magic among themselves and the Council wouldn't stick its nose in all the time."

"That doesn't sound like a big deal the Ministry has loads of Aurors, and if it's about You-Know-Who this council sounds like people we should be calling for help.", said Ron a bit confused.

"I was getting to that Ron" said, Mr Weasley "You see, our people and the council have different ideas about quite a few things. They see dark magic everywhere to the point where Mad-Eye thinks that they are dangerously paranoid." Mr Weasley let that sink in for a moment. It was a rather disturbing idea that there were people out there even more paranoid then Mad-Eye, who was widely know for being that trait himself. "Then there are their ideas about trials and punishment, which are don't bother and cut off the off the head of anyone they suspect."

"Arthur you aren't exactly convincing me that contacting the wardens isn't a great thing, I think I might pay to see death eaters get their just desserts." said Sirius, a cold mirth in his voice.

"Oh?" replied Mr. Weasley, "How much would you pay to see mine?"

The silence that fell on the room was deafening.

"What do you mean Arthur you never hurt one in your life" said Mrs. Weasley, who was wide eyed and voice was high pitched and fearful.

"If you have a modicum of common sense sure but we are talking about a Warden and they think a memory charm is one of the darkest forms of magic around."

Nothing could have been more shocking to the people sitting at that table. Memory charms were a routine simple spell Mr. Weasley used to prevent muggles from finding out about magic. In fact, much of the ministry did them regularly. Harry just could not understand why someone like Mr. Weasley who spent his life trying to do good would be treated like Voldemort by people fighting dark magic.

Mr. Weasley explained, "It has to do with the third law of magic, Thou shalt not invade the mind of another. They say that memory charms an irredeemable type of magic and must never be done. They also think wards to guide muggles away from magical sites are deeply suspicious"

"But how do they maintain the Statute of Secrecy without memory charms?" asked Hermione.

"That isn't part of laws of magic so it doesn't concern them" Mr Weasley said acidly.

"Why did Dumbledore bring in a Warden in if they'd kill a load of innocent people?" asked Ron.

"I don't think he did, given what Harry told us about the Winter Queen, starting a blood bath might be her idea of a joke." said Mr Weasley tiredly as if explaining everything had been a marathon. Mr. Weasley seemed older then he had this morning, the lines of his face seemed deeper, the gray seemed to cover more of what hair he had left. Then he took a deep breath and stood up, "Right, I've got to get back to the ministry to find out what's going on there". There was deep determination in his voice as if all the worry he was feeling was an everyday occurrence.

"But, Arthur" Mrs Weasley began but was cut off by Mr. Weasley, "Molly, Dumbledore and even if it was the Winter Queen's doing he'll still be able to work past it, have faith." and with that Mr. Weasley left for the ministry. He did not return before Harry and the others went to bed.

When he finally came back to Grimmauld place near the end of breakfast, Mr Weasley looked utterly exhausted. When he sank into a chair, Mrs Weasley already had a cup of tea in front of him. "Thanks, Molly" he said as he drank, relaxation flowing into him.

"So what is the Ministry going to do?" asked Mrs. Weasley, straining to kept her voice even and free of fear.

"Nothing could be decided. For a while we talked about burning documents but then came how to do it. Some were afraid, that if we did it will spell fire that they would be able to reconstitute from the ashes." said Mr Weasley wearily and then he continued in a more annoyed tone, "Then they had me talk for over an hour about how muggles make fires and then the whole idea was scrapped because we became afraid that the wardens would notice all the missing files if they did come in."

"They made you stay all day and nothing was done?" Mrs Weasley said a bit tersely.

"Did find out that Dumbledore has a letter that will be published about the warden today. That's why the Prophet hasn't shown up yet. After I see it I'm going straight to bed." said Mr Weasley consolingly.

As luck would have it it was barely a minute later that the post arrived. The top of the page was dominated by DUMBLEDORE WRITES OPEN LETTER. It was a fairly long letter and read,

Dear parents of students and other concerned peoples,

I am not sure how fast the information has spread but doubtless by now at least some have heard that a new professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts has been filled by a Harry Dresden of Chicago, United States of America. Alas I regret to inform you all that he has flatly refused to work more then this next term. He feels that his current duties as a Regional Commander of Wardens of the White Council, especially during the war, are too important to leave permanently.

The purpose of this letter is to allay the concerns about a Warden teaching at our school. Many of you may remember stories from your youth where the Wardens usually are depicted as merciless villains who murder children. Warden Dresden does not dispute either the charges that they have murdered children or that they lack mercy he does strongly object to them being cast as villains. It his opinion that the children the council executes have unfortunately become too steeped in the Dark Arts to be saved. An unfortunate side effect of the Masquerade for children who have talent in the Art but are not wand users. However, after talking with Warden Dresden though I am convinced that the curriculum of Hogworts does not run afoul of the White Councils laws. If any parent so wishes I will meet them in their home and swear an unbreakable oath that their child will not come to harm by Warden Dresden.

During my conversation with the Warden, we also discussed the issue of testing students to become members of the White Council. Becoming a member would have many advantages including extended life, wealth, and a mastery over the art of magic that even I have not obtained. However I have insisted that testing must be voluntary and Warden Dresden has agreed that only fifth years and up will be considered for Warden training. Parents of students should not be worried that a child who passes will be carried off to never be seen again. Warden Dresden explained that the training for apprentices, who will not be Wardens, is a rather free form and they would even be allowed to stay at Hogworts to complete their education. Students becoming Wardens would face a more intense training but even they would have time to visit family. After becoming full Wardens they would have more freedom to visit then most other profession would be able to offer.

Another concern that many may face is the cost associated with his hire. Queen Mab is known for driving hard bargains and the one I have entered into is no exception. In return for finding a candidate Queen Mab has received a small cottage that lies in the center of the Forbidden Forest and the contents within. As the area of land in question is less then 1 acre I did not need to involve the board of governors with its sale. I am afraid that no inventory of cottage could be made as I nor any member of staff could compel themselves to enter that dark place.

I will gladly accept any letters or comments and I will respond to them as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

After he finished reading the letter Mr Weasley laughed long and hard, "I knew he would have a plan, it's brilliant"

"What are you talking about dad? What's his plan?" asked Ron.

"It's about that war with the vampires isn't it!" exclaimed Hermione, "The White Council needs new recruits because of their war, that's why when the Warden was the trial he was so keen to get Harry enrolled in the Wardens he was absolutely desperate."

"Thanks Hermione" Harry said flatly.

"Oh you know what I mean, you're exactly what they want a fighter to throw at the vampires" Hermione said reproachfully.

"Won't the Wardens still kill dad if they find out about the memory charms?" asked Ron.

"Not if they want to get recruits, if half the ministry ends up on a chopping block every single student at school will lose an aunt or second cousin or have a friend that will and never want to join. So to be safe the warden is going to avoid looking for big trouble." Hermione said gleefully.

"That's not going to stop Voldemort or the Death Eaters though" said Harry and he rolled his eyes as everyone else flinched at the name.

"Yes but it is still another year to prepare and if everything go pear shaped we could get him" said, Mr Weasley and as he stood up continued "would you wake me for lunch dear?" and Mr Weasley left the room.

Hermonie had gone back to reading the newspaper and all the Weasleys looked, well they didn't looked quite as happy Mr. Weasley but compared to their expression before breakfast they seemed positively giddy.

"Reading the letter again, Hermione?" Ron asked.

"No, the Ministry's response is on the next page" Hermonie replied.

"And how are they spinning it to make Dumbledore look incompetent?" asked Fred.

"Well they're talking mostly about him making a deal with Queen Mab and if what they say she's done is true then they might have a point", Hermoine said

"What's she done then?" asked George.

"Well according to the Prophet, in the 13th century when she was at a dinner party hosted by the leaders of a goblin rebellion she killed thirty five people who attacked the hall and supposedly in the 11th century she cursed the head of a Scottish clan to be a werewolf, who killed his entire family, 73 people, after he broke faith with her." said Hermione.

"No way she'd be a thousand years old if that were true" said Ron.

"The article says she is at least 20,000 years old." replied Hermoine.

This shocked everyone into silence. Harry had known that Queen Mab was immortal but knowing she was older then civilization or even the hills was another thing entirely.

"What else do they say" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"Nothing about the White Council, probably too afraid to disrespect them. They do mention that Umbridge woman Harry talked about yesterday, the one that Mab beat. Apparently she was going to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor" said Hermione. After she read some more of the article she told the rest of them, "Since she can't be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor she's going to come as an Inquisitor to assess Hogworts' teaching".

"Well that can't be good" said Fred and George concurred with his twin with a vigorous nod.

Mrs. Weasley end the conversation by informing them that there was quite a lot of cleaning to do.

Over the next few weeks good to her word there was a tremendous amount of cleaning. When Ron compared themselves to house elves they got a rather large earful about S.P.E.W, Hermoine's pet cause which Harry and Ron were technically members of. While Grimmauld Place was the headquarters for the only people against Voldemort very little actually happened. When anyone came by to talk Mrs. Weasley made sure that they were out of ear shot even with the extendable ears.

The week before the summer holiday ended the letters from Hogworts arrived. While they said to buy 2 more books, The Standard Book of Spells Grade 5, by Mirranda Goshawk and Elementary Magic by Ebeneezer McCoy, the exciting news were the two Prefect's badges that came with them. To no one's surprise one went to Hermoine and to everyone's surprise the other went to Ron. Fred and George were naturally a bit upset that another one of their brothers had been lost to the rule enforcing opposition, Mr and Mrs. Weasley were nearly bursting with pride and Harry was left feeling a bit disappointed. Harry knew that he should be happy for his friend, there were still mean spirited thoughts that lurked in his head that he should have been made prefect. It wasn't as if he was the only one thinking it either, almost everyone came up justification for why Harry wasn't chosen. Feeling sullen Harry decided to leave the party early. On his was to his room he heard crying coming from the drawing room and so he stopped to investigate. Harry stood transfixed by what he saw, Mrs Weasley lying on the ground sobbing and in front of her Ron dead. But wait Ron was down stairs how could he be hear?

"R-r-riddikulus!" Mrs. Weasley sobbed, pointing her shaking wand at Ron's body.

Crack

Ron's body turned into Mr. Weasley kneeling and a tall man that was vaguely like Warden Dresden did who then hefted up a large sword and cut Mr. Weasley's head off.

"No!" Mrs. Weasley moaned. "No... riddikulus! Riddikulus! RIDDIKULUS!"

Crack dead twins. Crack dead Percy. Crack dead Harry.

Harry tried to convince Mrs. Weasley to leave but couldn't get through to her. When Lupin came followed quickly by Sirius and then by a limping Mad Eye. Lupin looked from the dead Harry on the ground to Mrs. Weasley and instantly realized what was going on, pulled out his own wand and said, "riddikulus"

Crack. The dead Harry turned into a silvery orb and then disappeared into a wisp of smoke.

It took a few minutes to calm her down and she told them that she dreamed about her family dying on a regular basis. While she tried to say it was just silly to break down like that because of a boggart Harry thinking of his own parents thought it wasn't a silly fear at all. After that he felt tired and older and the worries about who got a prefect's badge remote and unimportant.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The next day, getting ready to leave was a disaster. Fred and George had used magic to levitate their trunks instead of carrying them and knocked Ginny down the stairs. This set Mrs. Weasley off on a furious tirade that woke Mrs. Black who compounded the noise with her usual epithets. Then Mad Eye didn't want to leave because a member of the guard, which Harry found out was solely for his benefit, didn't show. It was ridiculous to have a guard anyway, Voldemort has to lay low and so there was no way he was going to be at Kings Cross. Finally they left for King's Cross with Sirius, who and transformed into his dog shape, and arrived with just enough time to spare.

Harry was about to start looking for a compartment with Ron and Hermoine but they had to go sit with the other prefects. Before then Harry wouldn't have guessed how sad being on the train without his best friends for the first time would be. He eventually went with Ginny and Neville Longbottom and found a compartment with a girl all by herself. This is how Harry met Luna Lovegood. Being polite about it, Harry's first impression was that she was a little odd. She had waist length dirty blonde hair, eyes that looked constantly surprised, and wore a necklace of butterbeer caps.

The day got even worse when after being sprayed by a vile fluid from a cactus Neville had got for his birthday, Cho Chang opened the compartment door. Cho was an extremely pretty girl with long, shiny black hair and Harry had fancied her for quite some time. She was also had gone out with Cedric Diggory last year which made things complicated. After seeing Harry covered in foul slime she quickly said goodbye and left. At that moment Harry was conflicted between wishing he was dead out of embarrassment and wishing Neville was dead for that stupid cactus.

An hour later Ron and Hermione came and joined them. They told Harry who the other prefects and Harry correctly guessed that Malfoy was the Slytherin prefect because that was just the way things were going. When Ron joked about how he'd make Malfoy lines everyone laughed and Luna laughed so loud and long that if it wasn't for her airy nature she would have been making fun of Ron. Then Harry really saw the magazine Luna was reading. Most of the cover was filled with a picture of two men which were probably the same person, it wasn't very well drawn so it was hard to tell. They both were wearing the same thing a black tench coat and one was hunched over leaning on a staff followed by zombies. The other one stood tall and bore a resemblance to that old Superman movie but instead of both hands on his hips one hand held a staff that shown with light. The headline beneath the picture read Special Edition: Defender Against the Dark Arts or Master of the Dark Arts?

"Could I see your magazine" Harry asked Luna eagerly.

She nodded, still gazing at Ron, breathless with laughter and handed it to Harry. The magazine was almost certainly the most bizarre thing that Harry had ever read. It purported to be the life story of Harry Dresden and started by accusing his mother of being an evil witch. She supposedly murdered an entire family in 1968 for muggle baiting and was close friends with vampires and daemons. The rest of the article wouldn't decide one way or another if Warden Dresden was either a hero or villain. While there were plenty of stories where Warden Dresden was the hero like one where he saved a muggle's sanity from an extremely nasty ghost, there were also stories of Warden Dresden blasting craters into buildings in a fit of rage. Although those were just the believable claims. The article got increasingly fantastic, with claims that he is a necromancer that rides a dinosaur into a battle and that armies of Hell itself tried to kill him several times.

"Is this for real?" asked Harry.

"Of course not, its the Quibbler" replied Hermione looking over her copy of Elementary Magic.

"My Father wrote that" said Luna in a much more serious tone,"And I'll have that back."

Hermione immediately went pink and hide her face behind her book.

No sooner then the paper had been handed back when the compartment door opened a third time. To Harry's dismay it was Malfoy and his cronies Crabbe and Goyle who came taunt him a bit before leaving. What was worrying Harry was Malfoy's word choice of dogging. It might be possible that he knew about Sirius being an animargius and letting him tag along to the train station was a terrible mistake. When they finally got to Hogsmead Hagrid wasn't around gathering up the first years. Then the carriages instead of being self propelled were pulled by some sort of skeletal horse creature.. When Harry pointed this out he found that he was the only one to see them. Well everyone besides Luna and Harry wasn't going to let everyone else know that. Sharing a vision of something with Loony Lovegood was far worse then having one by yourself.

When Harry and the other Gryffindor's sat down at their table Harry saw quite a few new faces at the staff table. To Dumbledore's right sat an old man in blue robe and wore a silver circlet, then next to him there was a man in a black robe followed by Professor Dresden and then a girl with blue and pink hair in brown robes.

A few seats from Dumbledore's left was the woman who escorted the first years and there was the toad faced woman from the trial. She was especially noticeable because she was wearing a revolting fuzzy pink sweater over her robes. Conspicuously absent was Hagrid who, being half giant, is never inconspicuous in any crowd. This led to worried conversation with Ron and Hermione about what could have happened. They came to the conclusion that Hagrid must be still on Dumbledore's mission because the alternatives were terrifying.

When Professor McGonagall brought out the Sorting Hat, Harry was pretty sure he saw Professor Dresden mouth out, "What the" and a swear word that would probably cost Gryffindor ten or twenty points if a teacher heard Harry say it. The larger bald man sitting next to Professor leaned over to, Harry assumed, explain what was happening. Then as the hat started singing Professor Dresden's expression from confusion to worry.

The song was strange, instead of the normal description of the house traits, the hat dispensed advice that all the houses should be united. Nearly Headless Nick said that this wasn't the first time this happened and always during dark times. The sorting went as usual and finally came Dumbledore's opening speech.

"To our newcomers," said Dumbledore in a ringing voice, his arms stretched wide and a beaming smile on this lips, "Welcome! To our old hands – welcome back! Now I don't mean to make a speech before our feast but I must introduce our guests! Tonight we are honored by perhaps the greatest men that Hogworts has ever hosted! With great pleasure, I introduce to you Arthur Lengarty, Merlin of the White Council and Ebeneezer McCoy of the Senior Council of that illustrious body! They are alumni of Slytherin and Hufflepuff" Dumbledore gave a slight pause for Slytherin and Hufflepuff to give a quick little cheer before continuing," from the year 1717!" That got many surprised looks. The only person Harry ever heard of was Nicolas Flamel was older then them and he used the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Life. The smile on Dubledore's face widened during the pause and continued before whispers could start up, "They have just made a generous donation of a million galleons" Dumbledore gave another slight pause to punctuate the occasion before continuing "each". That was even more surprising, as two million galleons was probably more then what every old wizarding family combined could simply give away. "Now enough with talk and tuck in!" said, Dumbledore. Then the sumptuous feast sprang before them which Ron dug into with glutinous glee.

After all the students were full and the noise was starting to pick up again Dumbledore rose and silence fell instantly. Dumbledore was explaining the rules to everyone which were the same as always. All though there was an extra emphasis on not entering the Forbidden Forest as Queen Mab's hunting rights in the forest, through legal technicalities, might include students who happen to wander in. Dumbledore was in the middle of explain the rules about Quidditch sign ups when a small but firm, "hem hem". It came from the Umbridge woman and for a moment everyone in the Great Hall looked somewhere between surprised and shocked as no one ever interrupted the Headmaster when he spoke. Dumbledore was the first to recover and allowed her to speak. She then gave a condescending speech which everyone in the room hated for different reasons. The students because they were forced to listen to a speech instead of going to their dormitories. The teachers were offended that someone spoke out of turn and if the teachers didn't like it the two guests from the White Council were so angry Harry could see the veins in their foreheads. But then at three hundred years old probably held tradition a lot closer then most people.

Harry hadn't really noticed Umbridge's voice at the trial but it was high-pitched, breathy and little girlish. Harry took a strong dislike to the woman immediately. The dislike deepened after a few sentences because of her utterly condescending manor, that would have been better suited to speaking with a five year old rather then to students at Hogworts. She then went on and on so by the time she was half way done everyone was either talking to their friends or had the same glazed look they had in Professor Binns' history class. If Umbridge noticed how many people were actually paying attention to her Harry doubted it. In fact Harry was pretty sure she wouldn't have noticed a riot going on. She eventually ended her rambling speech and received a halfhearted applause although some of the teachers simply clapped twice and stopped. The two old men from the White Council crossed their arms and refused to clap at all.

Dumbledore said, "That was quite illuminating".

When Harry asked how that load of woffle could have been illuminating Hermione explained because it laid out the ministry's plan to interfere with Hogworts. As usual Harry and Ron were a bit too thick to see it.

Dumbledore continued with his announcements and finally dismissed the sleepy students to bed. Ron had to be reminded that as prefects he and Hermione were supposed to help guide the first years. Then Hermione had to tell him not to call the first years midgets even if they were short.

When Harry and some others had gotten to the Portrait of the fat lady, he realized he had forgotten to get the password. When for the first time ever Neville came and knew the password, it was the name of the cactus that shot vile mucus in Latin. Inside the Gryffindor common room Harry and the others made for their dormitory while Fred and George Weasley tacked something to the notice board. When Harry got to his dormitory he saw Dean and Seamus sticking their posters to the walls.

"How was your summer Harry?", asked Dean.

"All right, you?" replied Harry.

"Not bad... better then Seamus' anyway." said Dean.

"Why what happened Seamus?" asked Neville.

Seamus didn't answer immediately but eventually he said, "Me Mam didn't want me to come back"

"What?" said Harry pausing while taking off his robes.

"She didn't want me to come back to Hogworts".

Seamus turned away from his poster and pulled out his own pajamas from his trunk.

"But – why?" said Harry astonished. He knew that Seamus's mother was a witch and couldn't understand, therefore, why she should have come over so Dursley-ish.

"Well... because of you and Dumbledore I suppose." Seamus said sheepishly, and quickly added, "Its not like the Warden becoming a professor helped much either".

"She thinks I'm a liar and Dumbledore a fool." said Harry, turning back to his bed and took off his shirt. A few weeks ago that would have set Harry off but the trial, the day worrying if a massacre was about to happen and finding out last night that Mrs Weasley was completely terrified that her family and Harry were going to die, had pushed the accusations out of his head. If fact Harry wasn't sure he had thought about them since the trial.

"Yeah, something like that." said Seamus who at least had the decency to sound embarrassed.

As Harry stuffed his robes more forcefully then was necessary into his trunk Seamus asked, "Look... I just... could you tell me what happened that night... when Cedric died." stuttering a bit.

Harry turned back to Seamus and asked dryly"If you didn't believe me three months ago why would you believe me today?"

"All I heard was from Dumbledore's speech at the end of last term and nothin' else except from the paper" said Seamus his voice was level and slightly plaintive.

"And Dumbledore's word isn't good enough for you!" shouted Harry .

Seamus got a bit red in the face and was probably going to say something right back at Harry but Ron came into the room and demanded, "What's going on here?

"Seamus thinks I'm a liar and Dumbledore is a fool" Harry roared .

"I just want the bloody truth!" roared Seamus just as load as Harry had been.

For a moment Ron looked stricken but then said, "If Harry doesn't want to talk then he doesn't have to."

"I'm not exactly asking for much just what happened! Ron did he even tell you what happened?" said Seamus fiercely.

"Oi! You heard what I said drop it or its detention." said Ron just as fiercely.

Seamus looked between Harry and Ron and with frustration on his face and said, "The Prophet must be true then and I'll make sure everyone knows it"

Harry climbed into bed and drew the curtains as hard as he could. Harry sat in the dark and he was furious. He was furious at Seamus, at the other Prophet readers, and most furious with himself. Why hadn't he just told Seamus what had happened it would have saved a lot of trouble and Seamus would have convinced others. Harry tried but even in his mind he wouldn't form the story only more fury and possibly guilt? Yes, guilt that he was alive and Cedric wasn't. It had been months but Cedric's death still hurt as much as the first few minutes after his death. Harry dwelt on this for a few more minutes before trying to get some sleep. He didn't succeed.

The next morning Seamus was already gone by the time Harry got up. When Harry and Ron went downstairs they waited but they didn't find Hermione. It wasn't until they were halfway through breakfast until she turned up.

"And where have you been?" asked Ron.

"The library" replied Hermoine.

"YOU WERE WHERE WOMAN!?" roared Ron loudly enough that even the house elves in the kitchens could probably hear it.

Everyone in the Great Hall turned and stared at them and Ron turned a shade of red slightly deeper then the Gryffindor scarlet. At first there was silence and then there were whispers and laughter led by Professor Dresden and the girl with dyed hair. Professor McGonagall was decidedly less amused and looked at Ron with pursed lips for causing a ruckus.

"Do keep your voice down Ron" replied Hermione in a calm and rather posh voice, "and I was at the library looking up Ebeneezer McCoy and Arthur Langarty." said Hermione as she buttered a slice of toast. "I had to fight off several Ravenclaws for the year book for 1717 and I had to agree to read it out loud to everyone. They really did graduate from here and received special commendations for joining the White Council."

"Blimey, they're three hundred and have a million galleons to spare, maybe we should try joining the council." said Ron.

"What about them killing your dad?" asked Harry .

"If we don't tell them then no one is the wiser." replied Ron.

Harry was tempted by that line of reasoning as well. After all the ministry must have been using memory charms when those two had graduated and they didn't bring the wardens down on us. But the idea quickly passed when the schedules were passed out and Ron groaned. "Look at this History of Magic, double Potions, Divination, double Defense Against the Dark Arts... Binns, Snape, Trelawney, God I hope Dresden isn't as bad".

Their fears about their first class of History of Magic turned out to be completely justified. Professor Binns was as boring as ever and only Hermione managed to stay awake. After class Hermione threatened to not share her notes to make Ron and Harry pay attention until Ron assured her she was just so much more clever then Harry and himself. Harry suspected that Ron had been sitting on that well crafted complement for quite sometime. Harry smiled to himself and wondered if Ron had a strategic compliment stockpile for such dire emergencies.

Snape turned out to be worse then ever. The first potion of the year was the Drought of Peace an especially fiddly potion. When Harry made a slight mistake by forgetting to add syrup of hellebore to his potion Snape destroyed Harry's potion even though others were far worse then his. Crabbe's had eaten through his cauldron and the some of the floor and was still allowed to turn it in.

When Ron and Hermione were arguing again, it must have been for the thousandth time, during lunch Harry went off on them and asked if they would just give it a rest. Before they could get over their satisfying shock Harry left for Divination his least favorite class after Potions. Tralawney was her usually airy and mysterious self. When Ron came, he told Harry that Hermione wanted Harry to stop taking his temper on herself and Ron. He hadn't really taken his temper out on them. They'd been arguing like cats and dogs he'd just decisively broke up the fight but Ron wouldn't hear it. He was just the messenger and if Harry wanted to talk about it he should do it with her. The divination lesson on interpreting dreams. Harry didn't want to talk about his dreams, because he absolutely knew what the nightmare about the graveyard he had all summer meant. In all there were two upsides to the lesson first it was a single instead of a double and they barely had time to do any analysis. The second was that it was the first time they Tralawney hadn't managed to predict his death to kick of term, which was nice.

When they entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom they found Professor Dresden standing next to the teacher's desk. Since Professor Dresden was an unknown quantity everyone kept quite as they entered; he might turn out to be very strict. Harry, Ron and, Hermoine manged to get front row seats in case class turned out to be interesting. From there Harry got a much better view of Professor Dresden then he had at the trial. He was wearing a plain black robe and without his leather coat he no longer had a blinking neon sign over his head which read 'I'm a baddie' but with his height, his broad shoulders, scars, and leather glove on his left hand he was still a man many would cross a street to avoid. His expression wasn't quite a smile but, it definitely wasn't a scowl that Snape always wore nor the thin pursed lips of McGonagall perpetually wore, which Harry thought was a positive sign.

When everyone had taken a seat Professor Dresden took roll before introducing himself himself, "Well class I'm Harry Dresden and I'll be you're D.A.D.A. Professor this year". It was weird to hear a professor speak with an American accent. Wizarding life was much more isolated then muggle life so it was the first time in years that Harry had even heard an American. Then after a slight pause Professor Dresden continued his introduction "I've fought the Dark Arts since I was 16, been a Warden for the last four years, I have fought monsters of every description and I am infamous and feared by people and monsters across the globe. Any questions about who I am? What I've done? Or anything at al you would like to know?". While he was friendly enough, teachers hardly ever just let students ask question, the tone was rather matter of fact for rather dramatic words like infamous and feared.

Lavender spoke up first and asked, "I heard a roman... well I heard a story about how you started a war with the vampires is it true?"

What little expression drained from professor Dresden's face as it became a neutral mask. Before he responded he took, what Harry thought was a calming breath, "The Red Court of Vampires took someone I cared about, they thought they created trap that I couldn't get out of. They didn't think, they couldn't understand the simple idea that a person would be willing to cross any line. I loved enough to start war and so I killed every Red vampire in Chicago while under hospitality."

Harry, his eye's wide, stared at Professor Dresden. He had heard teachers telling incredible stories before. Gilderoy Lockhart, Harry's second Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, had done nothing but tell them. Harry hoped, that unlike Lockhart's stories, Professor Dresden's story was true. If it was true it would mean that there were people out there who would bring the fight to evil rather then spend months cleaning a dusty house in London.

Hermione put her hand in the air and when Professor Dresden gave her a nod she asked, "What would you consider to be most dangerous being you've had to deal with."

Professor Dresden considered for a moment, as if the question wasn't straight forward, before he started thinking out loud, "Dangerous is such a relative thing, Mother Winter, the eldest Queen of winter, is the most evil and powerful. But then again she so restrained in her power she's really only going to be able to cut loose during the End of Days. Mab on the other hand has a pretty free hand but she's been trying to recruit me rather then kill" he paused and reached behind him and grabbed a can of coke and sipped it. He still had the can in his hand and continued, "The Erlking has sworn to kill me but he doesn't look to be putting much effort into it. Now Nicodemous and Cowl they have power, drive and, complete lack of morality and sanity to haunt my dreams. So I'm going to go with which ever one of those I happen to trapped in a room with is the most dangerous"

There was a silence that stretched on for a moment before Ron let out a quiet chuckle and with a big grin on his face asked, "Is it true that you ride a dinosaur into battle?". Which got a rise out of everyone in the class.

The levity at the ridiculous question was jarringly ended however when Professor Dresden responded in a voice which bordered on anger, "I do not make a regular practice of necromancy, it was a strictly one time thing". The class was silent until Neville fell over backwards after leaning too far back away from Professor Dresden.

With the silence broken Hermione managed to stammer out "Bbbut you're a Warden that's illegal!"

A wide eyed Seamus responded, "Illegal? That's what you're worried about? Necromancy is the bloody blackest magic there is!"

Professor Dresden cut in before the class could really get out of hand, "Yes it was Black Magic. Yes it was a terrible idea. It was however not illegal as the 5th law only applies to humans not animals because if it was illegal I would have been executed on the spot. I only did it because of circumstances, that I won't go into, I had to have an aura of necromantic energy in order to prevent the death of thousands of people."

"Thousands?" asked Ron who was flabbergasted by what Professor Dresden had.

"Yeah bad guys were going to suck the life out of everyone within a mile or so any other questions before we begin?"

"Can dark Wizards actually come back from the dead?" asked Seamus before adding, "I mean you hear about that kinda thing in stories but usually just means they're runnin' out of ideas"

Harry scowled at Seamus' dig at him and didn't have much hope for Professor Dresden's answer because everyone outside of the Order of the Phoenix had discounted what Harry had said without a second thought.

When Professor Dresden's said, "Sure the Necromancer Heinrich Kemmler was killed seven times by the White Council between the early 19th century and 1965. Although its generally that they don't really die just the body they currently possess dies and they move to a new one via soul swapping, horcrux, phylactery or a half dozen other means." Harry felt quite happy surprise. Not only was it surprising to be believed but this was the first time anyone had even suggested how Voldemort might have come back from death. It was even disconcerting on some level to have learned more about Voldemort in ten seconds then He had all summer. No, thinking on it a little more Harry decided the disconcerting part had been the slightly excited voice Professor Dresden had talking about the means by which death might be cheated it was much too like Professor Flitwick taking about Charm theory. Perhaps Professor hadn't been completely honest when he said had only done necromancy once.

"So I think it has been long enough," and Professor Dresden turned to face the other end of the desk and asked an empty space, "Got them all Grasshopper?"

Harry exchanged glances with Ron and Hermione and was now quite worried that they were being taught by a man with powerful dark magic and now might not even be sane. That is until the empty space at the other end of the desk responded, "Yeah it was a cinch." and a girl appeared out of thin air. She was tall and had proportions that were usually reserved for statues. Harry wasn't sure how old she was but he thought she might have been in the seventh year or a bit older. She'd dyed her shoulder length hair pink on one side and blue on the other and, had even more piercings then Charlie Weasley. The ones in her earlobes were so large that he could have put his pinky in them. She was also the prettiest girl Harry had ever seen, short of Queen Mab or a Veela.

Professor Dresden introduced her saying, "This is my apprentice Molly she'll be doing a lot of the drudge work that comes with teaching and filling in when business calls me away. Also you all just failed your first dark wizard attack"

Hermione asked, "But you didn't say we were taking a test! And how could we have failed a test we've only been asking you questions". She was rather indigent about it as she had never failed any sort of exam in her life.

"Well Miss Granger, bad guys never... OK hardly ever, announce that they're going to kill you. They are too busy arranging your demise and you should be prepared for that. As for how you failed, if you can hurl any amount of magic at me I'll give Gryffindor 500 points" as he spoke he used his height to full effect and loomed over Hermione and his cool detached expression shifted to a more predatory and dangerous smirk. Hermione rose to his challenge and grabbed her wand or at least she tried to because her hand sank right through her wand. Hermione scrabbled with both hands to try and pick up what should have been a solid object as Harry and Ron exchanged looks and reached for their wands as well. With just as much fear and horror as Hermione felt Harry and Ron both couldn't even touch their wands. When professor Dresden chuckled at their predicament Harry looked up and saw him holding a coffee can that had everyone's wand in it. At that moment Harry could feel his eye's widening, his jaw dropping. No one had ever outright said that you shouldn't take someone else's wand but Harry had picked up on it. To see that unspoken rule so utterly disregarded by a teacher, particularly one as intimidating as Professor Dresden, was down right unnerving.

"So at this point if my apprentice and I were malificars you would all either work for me, enthralled or dead and stop worrying you will get your wands back at the end of class" explained Professor Dresden.

Then Molly spoke in quite voice "You know Harry it might be better if we..." she paused and turned a bit green and swallowed as if she was trying not to be sick, "if we mind raped those who wouldn't join instead of killing, a living catatonic victim would instill more fear in the future then a grave". Professor Dresden didn't turn to her but shifted his gaze on her and considered what she said. He replied approvingly to her horrifying plan, "Yeah that would be better for long term evil, good thinking Grasshopper".

Harry felt a knot for in the pit of his stomach as that very fate had befallen Neville Longbottom's parents. He wanted to turn around and see how Neville took it but he had promised Dumbledore that he wouldn't tell anyone what he knew.

"Now why are all of you utterly helpless right now? First of all you didn't simple precautions like" lectured Professor Dresden.

"Precautions?! How were we supposed to stop an invisible woman?" asked Ron indigently.

"How about having a second wand? How about having more then one kind of magical foci? How about not just leaving your only protection on the table but in a holster, up your sleeve or in your bag where it couldn't easily be stolen leaving you to look like a rube?" rattled off Professor Dresden in a even tone that increasingly became a mixture of condescension and disdain with each question. Ron went pink and looked down.

Professor Dresden was about to continue with his lesson when the door to the class opened and a perturbed looking Umbridge came in.

"I'm so sorry that I'm late Professor Dresden, it seems that some one changed what time lesson in my schedule" said Umbridge in a voice that was saccharine as last night but her eyes were glaring bloody murder at Professor Dresden who had morphed in the blink of an eye from a dower serious man to a jovial one.

"How unfortunate Lola," said Professor Dresden consolingly and then he brought his right to his mouth in a contemplative gesture, "My highly attuned investigative instinct tells me it was probably Peeves, only he would be so childish and brazen as to pull a prank on you Lola" said Professor Dresden with the sort over serious bad acting normally reserved for episodes of Star Trek.

"Oh that reminds me," said Molly, "here's your lock picks Harry"

"Why thank Molly, I was afraid that I left them somewhere incriminating"

There was a pause and Professor Dresden and Molly stared straight at Umbridge. Harry just couldn't believe what he was seeing a teacher as good as publicly admitting to pulling a prank on a government official. Dresden seemed friendly enough but this beggared the imagination. As the silence stretched on Ron started laughing. Professor Dresden rounded on Ron with an expression, still more overly dramatic, of hurt innocence that only extremely guilty can possess. He had seen such an expression many times on Fred and George and it may have even graced his own features once or twice.

"Are you trying to insinuate something Mr. Weasley?"

Ron managed to contain his laughter and said, "No sir I was thinking about something else Peeves did last year" with as much seriousness as he could muster which quite frankly wasn't very much.

"Good, 'cause I'd have to give you week's worth of detention if you were implying something" said Professor Dresden comically serious.

Umbridge spoke up in a much harder and curt then Harry had heard before, "Professor Dresden what exactly are your qualifications for teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"I'm sorry Lola but I've already covered that but if you aren't late again, there's another showing tomorrow"

She looked like she was going to insist until her eyes found the coffee can "Are those the children's wands on your desk?!"

"Yes, I had Molly secretly collect them as a lesson that danger is everywhere. they will get them back at the end of the lesson"

"That's a terrible thing to do Professor Dresden, you'll frighten the children"

"Good" said Professor Dresden flatly and turning to the class he said, "You all should have a healthy amount of fear. Like pain only the dead don't feel fear."

Umbridge regained her composure and started back on her previous train of questioning, "What exactly are you planning to cover this term?"

"If you didn't keep interrupting and observe, like that decree states, I'd be able to tell everyone." Professor Dresden said exasperatedly. Umbridge shook with a silent fury which Professor Dresden took as assent to continue and turned back to the class. "This term you will learn ward construction, develop situational awareness, proportional threat responses, more advanced techniques against mind magic, how to escape or evade pursuers and, since Dumbledore is rather insistent, things that are actually on your owl exam."

"What could you possibly find objectionable about about the O.W.L examination Professor Dresden?" asked Umbridge and she had enunciated each letter in the exam's acronym as if finding something to correct Professor Dresden on was a small but important victory. "They are crafted by the Ministry and contain everything one needs to know." said Umbridge with sycophantic pride.

"Oh there are far too many things wrong with it to go into here, I've decided to write a book." responded Professor Dresden and assured, "Don't worry though, I'll make sure you get a signed copy". Harry smiled and tried and failed to think of things Umbridge would like less then a copy of Professor Dresden's book. Umbridge, her cheeks pink, her lips pressed in rage said nothing but began scribbling furiously. She barely managed a sentence before breaking her quill. A second quill didn't last much longer then the first but the third one managed to stay in one piece.

Professor Dresden then began his lesson on magical wards. It was an incredibly detailed and difficult to fallow at times but Professor Dresden was rather good about explaining things. The only problem was when he made an analogy about ley lines and power lines and that handling either was not the best idea. Harry, Hermione and Dean being the only muggle born in the class knew what he was talking about, the rest of the class was obviously confused. Molly chimed in with the analogy of trying to fill a cup with a raging river and cautioned that if things went wrong while working a ley line, the results would be measured as a blast radius was much more understandable.

When the lesson came to an end and Molly started walking around with everyone's wand Professor Dresden said, "OK so for homework I want an essay on what you believe is dark magic using the seven laws a guide posts and point out some loopholes in those laws and compare and contrast your own personal beliefs of right and wrong with them."

"Is that all" said an incredulous Ron who was upset with their work load since divination.

"I have high standards Mr. Weasley and how can we have a discussion of about the Dark Arts if you don't know what they are?"

They packed their bags and left with Ron still grumbling about how much work they had. While it was by no means a great day but for the first time in a while Harry could say he was optimistic.


End file.
